10 Interesting Facts about Dick Clark

One of the biggest television host of all-time, Dick Clark, passed today at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, CA.

Dick Clark was the “Godfather” of pop music and his career spanned decades while introducing talents like The Jackson 5 and Madonna to the rest of the world. Mr. Clark was also a very succesful television producer having produced groundbreaking shows like American Bandstand, The American Music Awards and The Golden Globe Awards. Here are ten interesting facts about the legend that I wanted to share with you.

1. Dick Clark was a huge Flintstone fan. and owned a ‘Bedrock’ inspired estate in Malibu, California worth a cool 3.5 million dollars.

2. Dick was introduced to the broadcast world by his father Richard Augustus who was a station manager for WRUN in Utica, NY.

4. Clark graduated with a degree in Business from Syracuse University and is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon a fraternity that began at Yale in 1844. Some of Delta Kappa Epsilon notable members are George H. W. Bush, Theodore Roosevelt and Rutherford B. Hayes.

5. After graduating high school, America’s Oldest Teenager began working at Syracuse University’s student-run radio station WAER-FM at the tender age of 17.

6. The early part of his career wasn’t all peaches and cream as he survived the infamous Payola Scandol which ended the career of Rock and Roll Dj Alan Freed.

7. American Bandstand first aired in Philadelphia and Dick Clark is credited with putting the city of brotherly love on the cultural map.

8. Dick Clark helped to intergrate the dance floors of a ‘Black and White’ America by inviting black dancers to his show in 1958 just one year after starting American Bandstand.